and took office as Postmaster-General in the Government formed by Sir
John A. Macdonald. He retained that portfolio about six years, when the
Department of the Interior, of which he then became the first Minister,
was created. In 1870 he proceeded to England on an important diplomatic
mission, the result of which was the signing of the Washington Treaty.
He did not long retain his position as Minister of the Interior, the
Government having been compelled to resign in November, 1873, by the
force of public opinion, which had been aroused by the disclosures
respecting the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter. During the existence
of Mr. Mackenzie's Government he led the Conservative Opposition in the
Senate, and upon the accession of the Conservative Party to power in the
autumn of 1878 he accepted the portfolio of Receiver-General. He
retained this position from the 8th of October, 1878, to the 20th of
May, 1879, when he became Postmaster-General. Four days afterwards he
was created a knight of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture of
the Order held in Montreal by the Governor-General, acting on behalf of
Her Majesty. On the 15th of January, 1880, he resigned the
Postmaster-Generalship, and accepted the portfolio of Minister of
Militia. In the readjustment of offices which took place prior to the
assembling of Parliament towards the close of last year he resumed the
office of Postmaster-General, of which he is the present incumbent.
In 1855 he married Miss Georgina Frederica Locke, daughter of Mr. Thomas
Sandwith, of Beverley, Yorkshire, England. In 1857 he became a Bencher
of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was for some time Dean of the
Faculty of Law in the University of Queen's College, Kingston. He is
connected with several important financial enterprises, and is a man of
much social influence. He would probably have gained a much wider
reputation in the Canadian Assembly and the House of Commons than he has
been able to acquire in the less stirring atmosphere of the Legislative
Council and the Senate. He has, however, been a most useful man in the
sphere which he has chosen, and his retirement from public life would be
a serious loss to the Conservative Party, and to the country at large.
THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH.
The ex-Treasurer of the Province of Quebec is descended from one of the
old colonial families of Massachusetts, several members of which
attained considerable distinction in the early history of that colony.
The name of Colonel Benjamin Church, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, occupies
a very conspicuous place in the annals of New England warfare. He was
the first white settler at Seaconnet, or Little Compton, and was the
most active and noted combatant of the Indians during the famous war
against Metacomet, or King Philip, the great sachem of the Wampanoags.
In August, 1676, he commanded the party by which King Philip was slain.
The barbarous usage of beheading and quartering was then in vogue, and
it is said that Church decapitated the fallen monarch of the forest with
his own hands. The sword with which this act of barbarity is alleged to
have been committed is still preserved in the cabinet of the Historical
Society of Massachusetts, at Boston. Colonel Church kept a sort of rough
minute-book, or diary, of his exploits, and it was from these minutes,
and under his direction, that his son, Thomas Church, wrote his
well-known history of King Philip's War, which was originally published
in 1716, and which is still the highest original authority on that
subject. At a later period the members of the Church family (which was
very numerous and well connected) were conspicuous adherents of the Whig
Party, and at the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War
nearly all of them took the Republican side in the memorable struggle.
There were, however, two exceptions, and these two both enlisted their
services in the cause of King George III. One of them was killed in
battle in 1776. The other, Jonathan Mills Church, was captured by the
colonial army in 1777, and would doubtless have been put to death, had
he not contrived to escape from the vigilance of his captors. He made
his way to Canada, and ultimately settled in the Upper Province, in the
neighbourhood of Brockville, where he died at a very advanced age in
1846. His son, the late Dr. Peter Howard Church, settled at Aylmer, in
Ottawa County, Lower Canada, where he practised the medical profession
for many years. Dr. Church had several children, and his second son,
Levi Ruggles, is the subject of this sketch. The latter was born at
Aylmer on the 26th of May, 1836. He received his education at the public
schools of his native town, and afterwards attended for some time at
Victoria College, Cobourg. He chose his father's profession, and
graduated in medicine, first at the Albany Medical College, New York
State, and afterwards at McGill College, Montreal, where he gained the
Primary Final and Thesis Prizes, and acted as House Apothecary at the
General Hospital during the years 1856-7. Becoming dissatisfied with his
prospects, and believing that the legal profession presented a more
suitable field for the exercise of his abilities, he determined to
relinquish medicine for law. Acting upon this resolve, he studied law
under the late Henry Stewart, Q.C., and afterwards under Mr. Edward
Carter, Q.C., at Montreal, and was called to the Bar in the year 1859.
He commenced the practice of this profession in his native town, where
he has ever since resided, and where he has long since acquired high
professional standing and a profitable business connection, as well as a
large measure of social and political influence. He is a partner in the
legal firm of Fleming, Church & Kenney, and a Governor of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in the Lower Province.
He entered public life at the first general election under Confederation
in 1867, when he successfully contested the representation of his native
county of Ottawa in the Local Legislature. He espoused the Conservative
side, and sat in the House throughout the existence of that Parliament.
He attended closely to his duties, both in the House and as a member of
various committees, and made a favourable reputation for himself as
acting Chairman of the Committee on Private Bills. In July, 1868, he was
appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Ottawa District, and retained that
position until his acceptance of a seat in the Cabinet somewhat more
than six years afterwards. At the general election of 1871, he did not
seek reëlection, and for some time thereafter confined his attention to
his professional duties. He was associated with Judge Drummond and Mr.
Edward Carter in the Beauregard murder case as Junior Counsel for the
defence. On the 22nd of September, 1874, he was appointed a member of
the Executive Council of Quebec, and accepted office as
Attorney-General. He was returned by acclamation for the county of
Pontiac, and enjoyed a similar triumph at the general election of 1875.
He continued to hold the portfolio of Attorney-General until the 27th of
January, 1876, when he became Provincial Treasurer, in which capacity he
repaired to England during the following summer, and negotiated a loan
on behalf of his native Province. He held office as Treasurer until
March, 1878, when the DeBoucherville Government was dismissed from
office by M. Letellier de St. Just, the then Lieutenant-Governor, under
circumstances which are already familiar to readers of these pages. Mr.
Church was one of the signatories to the petition addressed to Sir
Patrick L. Macdougall, who then administered affairs at Ottawa, praying
for the dismissal of M. Letellier from his position as
Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. At the last general election for the
Province, held in May, 1878, Mr. Church was opposed in Pontiac by Mr. G.
A. Purvis, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 225 votes, and
still sits in the House for the last named constituency. On the 3rd of
September, 1859, he married Miss Jane Erskine Bell, of London, England,
daughter of Mr. William Bell, barrister, and niece of General Sir George
Bell, K.C.B.
CHARLES, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND,
_GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA._
The Duke of Richmond's administration of affairs in Canada was not of
long duration, but his high rank, and the melancholy circumstances
attending his death, have invested his name with an interest which would
not otherwise have attached to it. His rank was higher than that of any
other Governor known to Canadian annals, and his death was due to the
most terrible malady that can afflict mankind.
Charles Gordon Lennox, Duke of Richmond, Earl of March, and Baron
Settrington in the peerage of England; Duke of Lennox, Earl of Darnley,
and Baron Methuen in the peerage of Scotland; and Duc d'Aubigny in
France, was a descendant of King Charles the Second, by the fair and
frail Louise Renée de Querouaille, "whom," says Macaulay, "our rude
ancestors called Madam Carwell." He was the only son of
Lieutenant-General Lord George Henry Lennox, by Lady Louisa Ker,
daughter of the Marquis of Lothian, and nephew of the third Duke. He was
born in 1764, succeeded to the family titles and estates in 1806, and
married, in 1789, Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Gordon, by whom he
had a numerous progeny. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1807 till
1813, during the Secretaryships of the Duke of Wellington and
Mr.--afterwards the Right Honourable Sir Robert--Peel. Having displayed
much ability in the public service, he was appointed Governor-General of
Canada as successor to General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. He entered on
the duties of his office in the month of July, 1818, having been
accompanied across the Atlantic by his son-in-law, Major-General Sir
Peregrine Maitland, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the
Upper Province.
The Duke brought with him a good reputation. His Irish administration
had been remarkably successful, and it was believed that his tact, good
nature, and capacity for governing would be productive of happy results
in this country. He spent the remainder of the summer following his
arrival in a trip to the Upper Province, and after his return to Quebec
he was engaged in various diplomatic matters which consumed the greater
part of the following autumn. He met the Legislature for the first time
in January, 1819, when he opened the session with a speech which augured
well for his popularity. It was not long, however, before complications
arose. There was a gradually widening breach between the branches of the
Legislature as to their respective rights and privileges under the
constitution, and it soon became evident that the Governor-General was
not the man to heal this breach. Among the chief points in dispute was
the management of the colonial finances. When the estimates for the year
were presented, it was found that there was an increase of £15,000,
including an item of £8,000 for a pension-list. The Assembly became
alarmed, and referred the estimates to a committee. The committee cut
down several items of expenditure, including that relating to pensions.
The Upper House declined to pass the supply bill, as amended, and the
result was a practical dead-lock in public affairs. It was clear that
the Assembly had no confidence in the Executive. The session was
prorogued on the 12th of April, nothing of importance having been
accomplished. The Governor, in his prorogation speech, expressed his
dissatisfaction with the Assembly, and harangued that body in a fashion
which aroused much ill-will on the part of the members, who repaired to
their homes with a fixed determination to resist to the utmost all
attempts to infringe upon their rights. They were not destined, however,
to come into any further collision with his Grace the Duke of Richmond.
Soon after the close of the session he drew upon the Receiver-General on
his own responsibility for the necessary funds to defray the civil list.
Towards the end of the following June the Governor-General left Quebec,
on an extended tour through both the Provinces. He had a summer
residence at William Henry, or Sorel, in the county of Richelieu, on the
River St. Lawrence, where he made a short stay on his upward journey.
During his sojourn there he was bitten on the back of his hand by a tame
fox with which he was amusing himself. His Grace thought nothing of the
matter, although he experienced some uneasy sensations on the following
morning. He proceeded on his tour to the Upper Province, visited Niagara
Falls, York, and other points of interest, and reached Kingston on his
return journey about the middle of August. He had arranged to visit some
recently surveyed lots in what was then the back wilderness on the line
of the Rideau Canal, between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. He set out
from Kingston on the 20th of August accompanied by several members of
his staff. It had been calculated that the expedition would occupy
several days. On the morning of the 21st he began to suffer from a pain
in his shoulder. The pain steadily increased and he was recommended to
drink some hot wine and water. He did so, but found great difficulty in
swallowing it. In the evening he reached Perth, and found the pain
somewhat abated. He remained at Perth until the morning of the 24th,
when he resumed his journey, and proceeded on foot over a rugged country
of thirty miles, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn. He was much
overcome by fatigue and passed a restless night. On the 25th, he arrived
within three miles of Richmond West, on the Goodwood River, about twenty
miles from Bytown--now Ottawa. There he rested well during the night,
and walked to the settlement on the following morning. He felt much
relieved, and attributed his healthy sensations to his laborious
exercise. In a few hours he again complained of a returning illness, but
passed the night with so much composure that he continued his journey on
the following morning. It was noticed by his staff that he was moody and
irritable, very unlike his ordinary self, and that he displayed an
extraordinary aversion to water, when crossing the little streamlets in
the forest. He was advised by Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn to rest
himself and send for medical advice, but he continued his journey until
he reached a stream where a canoe was waiting to convey him a short
distance. He must have been sensible of the terrible fate impending over
him for several days before this time, but he bore up with much strength
of mind. Upon reaching the stream just mentioned he expressed his desire
to embark in the canoe, but declared that he did not think he should be
able to do so. He added, "Gentlemen, if I fail, you must force me." His
officers had no suspicion of the real state of affairs, and attributed
his dread of approaching the water to a sort of delirium induced by the
fatigue he had undergone, and the excessive heat of the sun. He was no
sooner seated in the canoe than his face displayed such mortal terror at
the near neighbourhood of the water that the truth flashed upon one of
his officers, who exclaimed: "By Heaven, the Duke has the hydrophobia!"
As the Duke proceeded down stream in the canoe, his officers walked
through the forest to the point where he was expected to disembark. As
they were threading their way along, they were horrified to see His
Grace dart across their path into the depths of the wood. They pursued,
and after a long chase overtook him. He was raving mad. They secured
him, and held him down until the paroxysm had passed, when, with much
self-possession, he explained his terrible situation, and requested them
to do whatever seemed to them best. They resolved to return with him to
the settlement, and began to retrace their steps. Upon reaching the
creek which they had crossed on the previous day, His Grace stopped, and
begged that they would not force him across the stream, as he felt that
he could not survive the effort of crossing the water. They accordingly
made a detour into the forest, and soon arrived at a little bush shanty,
where they requested the Duke to rest himself. The Duke expressed his
desire to take refuge in an adjoining barn, rather than in the shanty,
as the barn, he said, was _farther from water_. His wish was complied
with, and he sprang over a fence and entered the barn. There he spent a
terrible day, sometimes being quite calm and collected, but with
frequent recurrences of his malady. Towards evening he consented to be
removed into the shanty, where he was made as comfortable as
circumstances admitted of. His paroxysms returned frequently in the
course of the following night, and at eight o'clock on the following
morning--which was the 28th--death put an end to his sufferings. The
ruins of the old hovel on the banks of the Goodwood in which the Duke
expired, are, or recently were, still in existence. The spot is in the
county of Carleton, about four miles from Richmond, and near the
confluence of the Goodwood and Rideau rivers, about sixteen miles from
the junction of the Ottawa and Rideau.
His body was conveyed in a canoe to Montreal, where his family awaited
his return from his tour. It was subsequently removed in a steamer to
Quebec, where it was interred close to the communion table in the
Anglican Cathedral. Such was the tragical end of Charles Gordon Lennox,
fourth Duke of Richmond.
THE HON. CHARLES A. P. PELLETIER, C.M.G.
Mr. Pelletier was born on the 22nd of January, 1837, at Rivière Ouelle,
in the county of Kamouraska, in Lower Canada. He is a son of the late
Jean Marie Pelletier, by Julie Painchaud his wife. His maternal uncle,
the late Rev. C. F. Painchaud, acquired a Provincial reputation as the
founder of the College of Ste. Anne de la Pocatière, in the building of
which the reverend gentleman expended much of his fortune, and to
promoting the prosperity whereof he gave up many years of his life.
It was at Ste. Anne's College that the subject of this sketch was
educated. After going through all his classes in a highly creditable
manner, he entered Laval University in 1856 as a student at law, being
articled to L. de G. Baillairge, Q.C., the Attorney for the City of
Quebec. After the required lapse of time Mr. Pelletier passed such a
creditable examination that the University, on the 15th of September,
1858, conferred on him the degree of B.C.L. In January, 1860, he was
called to the Bar of his native Province, and for several years devoted
himself entirely to his profession, in partnership with his former
principal, Mr. Baillairge. In July, 1861, he married Suzanne A.
Casgrain, a daughter of the late Hon. C. E. Casgrain, member of the
Legislative Council of Canada. She died during the following year,
leaving one son. In February, 1866, Mr. Pelletier married Virginie A. de
Sales La Terrière, second daughter of the late Hon. Marc Paschal de
Sales La Terrière, M.D., who sat for many years in the Parliament of
Lower Canada, and afterwards in that of the United Provinces.
Mr. Pelletier was for some time Syndie of the Quebec Bar. The _Société
St. Jean Baptiste de Quebec_ has three times elected him as its
President, an honour seldom conferred more than once on the same person.
For several years he served in the Militia of Canada, and the last
Fenian raid found him in command as Major of the 9th Voltigeurs de
Quebec, which battalion he greatly contributed to organize and maintain
in a most efficient state. In 1867, immediately after Confederation, he
was unanimously chosen by the Liberal Party in the county of Kamouraska
as their standard-bearer, and was put in nomination for the House of
Commons. Having secured by his popularity a large majority over his then
opponent, the Hon J. C. Chapais, on a plea of informality in the
proceedings, a special return was made, and the constituency
disfranchised for some months. A short time afterwards the Returning
Officer was censured by the Committee on Privileges and Elections for
his partisan conduct in the matter. Another election having been
ordered, Mr. Pelletier was again chosen as the Liberal candidate, and
elected, in February, 1869, by a large majority, for the county of
Kamouraska, where party strife has always been very bitter, and where a
majority of twenty had previously been considered a decisive victory.
At the general election in 1872 Mr. Pelletier again defeated the
Conservative candidate, Mr.--now Judge--Routhier. In 1873, the Liberals
of Quebec East, having decided to wrest the constituency from the grasp
of the faction which had for several years previously controlled the
vote there, requested Mr. Pelletier to stand for the Division in the
coming contest for the Local Legislature. He acceded to the request, and
an active campaign was set on foot. The event was a memorable one. Both
parties strained every nerve to ensure the success of their respective
candidates, and a loose rein was given to the most violent passions.
Threats were freely indulged in, and on the day of nomination a shot was
fired at Mr. Pelletier on the hustings by some unknown hand. The bullet
grazed his forehead, and passed through the fur cap which he wore.
Nothing daunted by this reprehensible act, Mr. Pelletier continued to
prosecute his canvass with unabated vigour, and a week later he was
returned by a majority of more than 900 votes. In January, 1874, in
consequence of the operation of the Act respecting dual representation,
he resigned his seat in the Quebec Assembly, and remained in the Federal
Parliament. At the general election of 1874, which took place at the
advent to power of the Mackenzie Administration, after the retirement of
Sir John A. Macdonald's Ministry, Mr. Pelletier was returned by
acclamation for Kamouraska.
In December, 1876, the Hon. L. Letellier de St. Just resigned the
portfolio of Minister of Agriculture in the Dominion Government, and was
appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec. Mr. Pelletier
succeeded him in the Department of Agriculture, and was sworn of the
Privy Council in January, 1877, being appointed at the same time Senator
for the Grandville Division. As Minister of Agriculture Mr. Pelletier
was appointed President of the Canadian Commission at the Paris
International Exhibition of 1878, but was prevented on account of
pressing public business, from attending personally in Paris. He,
however, devoted his energies while in Ottawa towards making the
Canadian exhibit a success. For his services the British Government
created him a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, President of the Royal Commission,
also acknowledged his services in a very complimentary letter, which was
accompanied by His Royal Highness's portrait.
In October, 1878, Mr. Mackenzie placed the resignation of himself and
Cabinet in the hands of Lord Dufferin. Mr. Pelletier in consequence
ceased to preside over the Department of Agriculture. In 1879 he was
created a Queen's Counsel, and since his retirement from the Mackenzie
Government he has devoted his time to his profession at the Quebec Bar.
Mr. Pelletier is a gentleman of great tact and urbanity of manner, and
his fine social qualities and unassuming demeanour have endeared him to
a wide circle of friends. His popular manners, and his constant
readiness to preach peace and good fellowship well qualify him as leader
of the French Canadian Liberals in the Senate. He has in no small degree
been the means of smoothing away that bitterness which for many years
marked political contests in Quebec and Kamouraska. An indefatigable
worker, Mr. Pelletier is recognized as one of the best election
organizers in the Province, and the proof of it lies in the fact that in
no county where he persistently worked did victory desert his banner in
1878. He is known as a fast and firm friend, and though he has been
mixed up in most of the political contests of the District of Quebec for
the past fifteen years, it is believed that he has not a single enemy in
the ranks of his opponents.
THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT.